Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Title

Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/1/53

Date

21 Feb 1840

Scope & content

Written from Guatemala [Guatemala City, Guatemala]

Postmarked ('Cove [Cobh, Ireland] ship letter', 'Cove 1840 AP24' and '4E84 AP27 1840' and '[illegible]'). An opened seal is attached to the letter. Annotated on the reverse: 'Received at Belize March 4th and forwarded by George Nicholson [merchant in Belize]' and 'per Addingham'. A blank slip of paper has been glued on the reverse, covering some of the text and postmarks

Letter No 38

He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated 12 Oct and 30 Aug sent to the care of Messrs Smith & Co [merchants in Mexico] in Oaxaca [Mexico], and the copies sent to the care of Messrs P. & I. de Aycinena [Pedro & Ignacio de Aycinena, merchants in Guatemala]; he is sorry to hear that boxes HS27-32 did not arrive in good order: 'this can only be attributed to their long passage'; he only cut off the rhizome of the Epidendrum tibicinis [Myrmecophila tibicinis] to make the plants 'portable, and to rid them of their enemies, a large kind of ant with which they are always infested'; Chinantla [Mexico], which they asked about, is 'a strip of country' in the state of Oaxaca, five leagues [15 miles] north of the town Villalta [Mexico] on the other side of a high cordillera [mountain]; the area is about 50 leagues [150 miles] long, but only a few leagues broad, mountainous and intersected by several large rivers, and is shown in Arrowsmith's map [possibly John Arrowsmith, 'London Atlas of Universal Geography', first published in 1832]; he has made several excursions, and is satisfied with the results; he has not found any new pines, and has only seen Pinus oocarpa, Pinus teocote and Pinus occidentalis, and collected fine cones of the latter; he found a 'tolerable quantity' of seeds of Garrya laurifolia and Cheirostemon platanifolium [?Cheirostemon platanoides, Chriranthodendron pentadactylon]; he has a few boxes of epiphytes, which are common in the valley of Guatemala, 'and obtained without much loss of time'

Hartweg's accounts for 16 Jan-16 Feb 1840 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $10, 'keeping of four beasts' $12.1 and 'shoeing' $8, and 'received in cash' $100 from Messrs P. & I. de Aycinena in Guatemala

Level

Item

Extent

4 page letter (1 sheet)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)